Getting Home: A Minecraft Story
by Mowgli602
Summary: Transported to Minecraftia, a young boy must find a way home, all the while surviving skeletons, spider, and the notorious creepers. Based on an actual minecraft game. Some mods included at some points. My first "published" story. Reviews welcome. Rated T for language in some spots...I think.
1. Chapter 1: First Steps in a New World

**OK, this is my first story published online. It's written in 1st person, and the reactions are based on my first play-through of Minecraft. Chapters will most likely be a bit short at first. Hopefully it might bring back fond memories of some veteran Minecraft players, and give the new guys an idea of how the game goes.**

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The sun had blinded me, but I knew right away something was wrong. As I rubbed my eyes to regain my sight, I thought I could hear water nearby. When my sight cleared, I was greeted not by my backyard, but by a sprawling body of water, with islands dotted here and there. I started to back up in alarm, but my back collided with something hard. I turned, sighing loudly in relief when I discovered it was only a wall of dirt reaching up to my chest. Looking into the distance I could see trees, and walking though them, pigs and cows.

Normally I would be freaking out, you know, wild animals and all that, but something about this place, wherever it was, instilled a sense of calm in me. I could almost hear light, happy music in the air. So, instead, I watched them with amusement. Pigs and cows? What was this, a farm? There was even a sheep, caught in a bush. I ran over, freed it, and it ran away. It had left a good amount of its wool in the bush and, never knowing what I might need, I gathered it up and put it in my pocket. I wandered around for a while, before it occured to me to actually _check_ my pockets. And lo and behold, what's this? My lighter, my watch, and a compass from my days in the boy scouts! Well, at least I wasn't completely screwed.

The sun was on the downward curve when I realized something. I had no place to go. I had no idea where I was or how far home might be, and night was coming. I needed a shelter. I looked around frantically, hoping to find some kind of building material. Nothing but dirt, sand, trees, and a small pond. Angrily, I punched the nearest tree, not really hoping to accomplish anything. Imagine my suprise when a small crack actually appeared in the wood. An idea came to me. Maybe I could knock off some wood and make a hut or something. I punched the tree again, keeping my fist pointed right at the crack. Soon the crack expanded and after a few moments a foot long hunk of wood fell off the tree.

For the next hour or so I punched the crap out of that tree, knocking wood in every direction. By the time the sun was setting, I had about 30 chunks of wood at my feet. As quick as I could, I made a simple square around me and built it up until it was over my head. I left a small hole to get in and out.

I laid down on the ground in my hut, my jacket now a make-shift pillow under my head. I flicked my lighter on and off, taking comfort in this small connection to my life back home. I thought about making a fire, so I gathered some twigs and bark from the tree I had beat up, and soon had a small fire going. But, stupid me, I made it to close to another tree. Next thing I know, the whole freakin thing is going up in flames!

I knew it would attract attention, so I tried to put it out as fast as I could. In the end, all that was left was a blackened stump. Even my tiny fire was out. Not one to let things go to waste, I gathered the burnt wood and brought it back to my hut. Once inside I picked the straightest, sturdiest sticks and began binding them together with the wool I had gotten from the sheep. Before long I had what I thought was a decent club, though it looked more like a sword than a club. I settled in for the night, content that I would be O.K.

I woke up suddenly, not sure why. It was night, and sun-up was still hours away. I tried to go back to sleep, but I still felt uneasy. Deciding to take action, I grabbed my sword and peeked over the top of my hut...

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**OK, thought I might leave on a bit of a cliffhanger. I'll probably wait until I get some reviews before I make any more chapters. Let me know what you guys thought of it, and let me know how I could improve.**


	2. Chapter 2: Skeletons and Home Expansion

**Ok, so got some nice reviews. I'm so happy people actually like my writing. Gonna start updating probably every other day now. Alright, back to the story.**

**Note: At this point I added a mod I can no longer remember the name of. I know it allowed you to make tools out of any resource, and I used it accordingly.**

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And ducked back down immediately, narrowly dodging the arrow that whizzed by my head. I knelt in my hut, trying not to scream. A fucking SKELETON was shooting arrows at me! This had to be a nightmare. I could hear it shuffling around outside my hut, trying to find a way in. I was paralyzed with indecision. How could I fight something that could shoot arrows? I sat there for hours, trying to either figure out a plan to kill the skeleton or escape somewhere safe. The skeleton, for its part, just kept circling, as if expecting a door to magically appear.

The sky was getting brighter. Dawn was coming. A spark of hope glowed in my chest. Facing this monster during the light of day sounded much easier. Raising my sword, I prepared to strike. I slowly raised my head, looking for the skeleton. I found it right in front of me, arrow cocked, eye holes staring blankly at me. I raised my sword in a desprate attempt to forstall death.

Just then, the sun peeked over the horizon, bathing my hut in sunlight. The skeleton burst into flames, flailing around wildly. I fell back in shock, landing on the floor of my hut, knocking the wind out of me. As I lay there getting my breath back, I could hear the skeleton burning outside. When I did manage to get up and out of my hut, all that was left of the skeleton were 3 bones and 2 arrows. I took the arrows and the bones, storing them in my hut until I could figure out a use for them. I streched and headed outside.

Today I felt better, because today I had a game plan. I wasn't ready to venture too far from my hut, so I decided to make it a little more comfortable. The first thing on my list was making some tools. An axe first, so I could stop punching trees, and a shovel, so I could dig a pit in case more skeletons came. Also, I thought of a use for the bones I got from the skeleton that burned up. I took some more of my wool and wrapped the pointy ends of the bones onto my sword. It now looked alot more lethal, and the bones made it stronger.

I strapped the sword to my waist with the last of my wool and set about fixing up my house. I took down all the wood chunks, and beat down a few more trees with my new axe. By noon I had enough wood for a decent house. I built a simple two room, and even managed to make a door. The last few pieces of wood I had left I bound together for torches that I could light with my lighter.

When the sun started setting on my second day I took stock of my situation. My cramped hut was now a comfortable 2 room house with a door. My tools now included my bone-strengthened sword, a wooden axe and shovel, and I hollowed out a stump into a chest to store it all in. I had taken a few wood chunks and crafted them into a bench so I could fix my tools if need be. The house was a mixture of wood and dirt, with a solid roof. All in all, it was a huge improvement.

That night was a new experience. I had torches, so my house was lighted. I had my new bone-sword, with which I managed to kill a skeleton when it wandered into my house after knocking down my flimsy door. A quick one-two hit and I had another arrow and two more bones. The rest of the night passed without incident, although I did hear an odd sound in the early morning. It sounded like a snake, but larger. In any case, when I emerged the next morning, I was alone, and ready to begin expansion. I burned down some nearby trees and collected more wood and fixed my axe and shovel back in my house. I decided to make a quick trip into the wild to get a better understanding of my surroundings. Bone sword in hand, I ventured out into the forest.

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**OK, second chapter is up. The Creeper encounter is getting closer, so don't despair! As always, let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3: Stone Age Adventures

**OK, not alot of reviews (only 1 at this point in time) but whatever. I'm gonna keep uploading every other day no matter what until I finish this story. Take THAT society!**

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At least I started to, but as soon as I stepped outside, a huge thunderclap ushered in a storm that had me cowering in my house, hoping that my only shelter from the elements wouldn't get flooded. To pass time and calm my nerves, I made some more torches, fixed my tools, and sharpened my bone sword. The storm faded as night fell, and I drifted off into a deep slee-

There it was! The hissing sound from last night! I grabbed my sword and edged towards my door. I could hear whatever it was walking around my house, sometimes close, sometimes farther away. I eased my door open, sword at the ready. I poked my head out...

Soul-less dead eyes. The sensation of flying. Pain. Unconciousness.

I opened my eyes. The sun was directly above me. I had been unconcious all night. My head was throbbing, and when I touched it, my hand came back with blood on it. I groggily got to my feet and stumbled to the pond behind my house and took a look at my reflection.

There was a gash on my forehead, and my shirt was singed. A bright burn colored my cheek, and I was missing an eyebrow. Whatever had happened, it really did a number on me. I trudged back to my door, wiping the blood from my head, when I almost fell down a hole. What the hell? Where did this hole come from? And-WHAT THE FUCK!

An entire wall of my house was missing, burnt wood flung everywhere. There was a hole next to where my wall used to be, about hip deep, slowly filling with water from the ocean nearby. I sat down roughly, my aching head in my hands. What happened last night? I thought as hard as I could, but all I could remember was a set of dead eyes and the faint sound of a hiss.

I checked the rest of my house. Luckily the damage was contained to the outer wall, and eveything else was fine. I tore a sleeve from my shirt and tied it around my forehead. I wanted to sleep, but I knew I should fix my house first. I rebuilt my wall as best I could. Unfortunately I had to dig into my reserve wood pile, knocking me down to about 40 pieces. I collapsed near my chest, exhausted from my labor. When I woke up it was late afternoon. I felt my forhead. The throbbing was less, and the blood had clotted, so I was able to remove my "bandage". Taking a look outside, I decided it was too late to do any serious exploring, so I settled for starting a tunnel. Tunnels sounded monster safe, so I took my shovel and started working.

Progress was good, at least for the first 20 feet. Then I hit a wall. Literally. I scraped away all the dirt, uncovering a solid wall of stone. "Shit." I said. A wooden shovel was no good against stone. I needed a new tool. Then it hit me like the arrow from a skeleton.

"Pickaxe."

I rushed back to my crafting bench and grabbed some wood. I toiled long into the night, using my shirt to tie the wood together, tying it tighter and tighter. Finally, as the sun rose, I held up my creation. A wooden pickaxe, tied so tightly that I could smash it against stone for hours without it breaking. I was about to enter my tunnel when my stomach rumbled loudly. This was the 5th day without food. I was gonna have to kill something. I stored my pickaxe and grabbed my bone sword.

Outside I looked around, hoping for a pig or a cow to appear. No luck, only a lonely chicken clucking through the brush. I stalked it as quietly as I could, getting closer and closer until I gave a quick stab and BAM!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

I quickly plucked and roasted my chicken over a small campfire. I ate it quickly, leaving only bones behind. Feeling invigorated now that I had a full stomach, I grabbed my pickaxe and went crazy on my tunnel, making it over 100 feet, my tunnel taking a slight downward slope deeper into the ground. I went back to the surface and grabbed some torches, placing them at regular intervals along the side of the tunnel. Returning to the surface once again, I took a look at the large pile of stone fragments resting next to my chest. I looked at my wooden tools, cracked and in some places burnt, practically falling apart. Even my pickaxe was in danger of breaking, despite my masterful job of tying the wood together. My house was falling apart in some places, the wood beginning to rot.

It was time to upgrade, big time. Stone Age, here I come!

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**So our young man has finally met the infamous creeper! I think I accurately wrote how a creeper encounter goes most of the time lol. Also, we're finally moving on to stone tools. At this rate, we'll be in space by Friday. Stay tuned for more!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Much Needed Journey

**Oh wow, all positive reviews so far. I'm so happy! Thanks guys! OK, on with the story!**

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The next week passed quickly. I would work on crafting my stone tools for hours, only stopping to get food and sleep. At night skeletons would come, but I managed to obtain a bow from one, and after crafting a dozen arrows from my now obsolete pile of wood, I added archery training to my schedule, using skeletons and chicken as targets. My sword was getting stronger with every kill, the fresh skeleton bones adding points of the edge and strengthening the entire weapon. The wood it was originally made from had disintegrated days ago. The sword was now completely bone, from tip to handle, and it served me well.

When I wasn't working on my tools, I was hacking off large stone fragments from side tunnels I had made solely for stone gathering, hauling them to the surface, and making new walls for my house. As the days went by my wooden house became a stone fortress, with deep trenches carved all around to deter monsters.

When the zombies came I admit I freaked a bit, but after confirming they weren't actually people, just the living dead, my bone sword made quick work of them. For the oddest reasons the corpses had feathers on them, but I collected them anyway, adding them to my arrows, possibly adding accuracy to them, I'm not sure. I just did it so they looked better.

The spiders were a horrifying experience. They would fall out of trees, landing on top of me as I walked around at night and in the early morning. I got several bites from them. Luckily they didn't seem to be poisonous. They proved difficult to kill with my sword, since they jumped just when I would swing, making me miss and get a painful bite. Eventually I burned down every tree within 500 yards of my house, eliminating any possibility of a suprise attack.

The last night before I finished my new set of tools, I met the...thing that had blown up my wall and injured me. It was tall, with green fur all over it. It had no arms, and scuttled around on four small legs. I named it a creeper, because as I watched it, it would creep around the trees, trying to get behind me before rushing in and exploding. That's right, exploding. BOOM! Seeing it happen was horrifying, fur and blood everywhere. It seemed to ignore all other creatures, running right past cows and pigs to get to me. It could take a few more hits than the average skeleton, but as I got better with my bow, they wern't too much of a problem.

On my 16th day, I took a step back and took a quick inventory of what I had.

89 wood pieces

66 stone pieces

54 torches

5 cow hides

2 stone axes/1 iron axe

2 stone pickaxes/1 iron pickaxe

2 stone shovels/1 iron shovel

1 bone sword/1 stone sword/1 iron sword

1 stone knife/1 iron knife

1 compass

1 watch

1 lighter

1 chest

1 crafting bench

1 furnace

It hit me at that moment, while marveling at how much better my situation was, that I had become much too compliant in my new life. I HAD a life! I needed to try to find a way home. Wasn't that the whole reason I was trying to stay alive? It was time to leave my house and strike out into the wild.

My course now set, I put my possessions into my chest, which I then strapped to my back using the cow hides I had. I took apart my house, adding more wood and stone to my chest. Even though normally I would be floored by such a load, it weighed that of a 20 pound backpack. Maybe the gravity in this place was less than home.

I put my back to the sea, faced the world, and started walking. As I walked I felt good, like a teenager leaving his parents and going out into the world on his own. The sun was bright, even the animals seemed happy. I could almost hear the music again, guiding me towards my destiny.

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**Well, after several days, our hero is finally leaving home! God knows it took me long enough lol. I tend to stay in one spot when I play Minecraft. Keep up the nice reviews, guys!**


	5. Chapter 5: Lava and Jockeys

**Wow, thanks for all the awesome reviews guys! I've been writing like mad to get these updates out on time, and I'm really liking where the story is going. In today's story, our intrepid hero encounters the cuddly Squid and the terrifying Spider Jockey! OOOOoooOOOooo!**

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At least it did for about an hour, then it started raining. Hard. Still I trudged on, ignoring the thunder and lightning. I walked and walked, until eventually I came to the edge of a small desert just as the sun began setting. The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, so I opened my pack, got out some stone, and made a small stone hut. I went to sleep on the soggy ground, grumbling to myself about how much I hated rain.

As soon as the sun rose, I was out and walking, my make-shift hut abandoned behind me, a couple skeleton bones on the ground and the blood of a creeper explosion splattered on the walls. I walked briskly, making significant progress by noon. I had walked though a sizable desert, a small forest, and a pretty large area of flatland.

When I hit the shore of a lake, I stopped. I could see land in the distance, but it looked too far to swim. In the end I took out my wood and crafting bench, and made a small boat. Nothing fancy, just a seat with small walls and a paddle. I floated across the small lake at a decent speed, my muscles made strong from all that tree punching and stone cutting.

As I floated, I happened to look over the edge. As I gazed into the deep water, a shape appeared in the murk. A cold chill went down my spine. The shape got larger, approaching my boat at an incredible speed. I rowed harder, terror filling my soul. I was almost there when a plume of water erupted next to my boat. I screamed and scrambled for my sword.

I swung my sword wildly, missing completely. I fell back onto the floor of my boat as the waves from the thing lapped against my hull. I eventually summoned the courage or peek over. When I did, I almost fainted from relief. A medium sized squid floated lazily next to my boat, tentacles trailing down into the water. A large, dopey eye stared back at me, an unconcerned look on it's face.

Laughing to myself over my paranoia, I paddled my way to shore. I hit the shore too fast, though, and my boat fell apart, sinking into the water. I sloshed the last few feet, drying off in the sun before continuing.

By the time the sun started to dip towards the horizon, I started feeling cold. This suprised me, since everywhere I had been was comfortably warm. In a few minutes it started snowing. SNOWING! Pretty soon I was ankle deep in snow, plowing my way through the drifts that got in my way. I climbed up a snow covered hill, stopping at the top in shock.

Before me streached a vast frozen lake, the other shore so far away I couldn't even see it. For the moment my searching would have to wait, it seemed. I decided to build a new house and plan my next step. Looking around, I spotted a small grouping of pine trees that seemed to offer some protection from the elements. I ran over, unslinging my pack as I went. Once I made it into the copse of trees, however, I noticed a red glow coming from a hole in the middle of the trees. I peered in and saw...

LAVA! HOLY SHIT!

I carved a quick staircase into the ground and ran down to investigate. Sure enough, there was a small river of lava coming out of the cave wall. I looked around, seeing a couple of tunnels leading farther underground. I thought about setting up shop here, listing the pros and cons against each other. In the end, I decided to stay here for a few days and do some deep mining. I knew from school that gold ore could be found underground, and the thought of new golden weapons excited me (Little did I know. Stupid gold tools and their shit durability)

I blocked off a large corner of the cave, leaving only 1 way in or out, which is where I put my door. When I resurfaced, I saw the sun was setting, so I built a crude wall around the hole, hoping to deter any monsters that may come. I dropped back down to my cave house, and grabbed some torches.

I went deeper into the cave, dropping torches every few dozen feet. The tunnel curved away from the main cavern, ending in a wall of compacted gravel. I backtracked to the main cavern, noticing a hole near the lava. It was too deep to see the bottom, and I couldn't risk jumping into it. I paced for a bit, glancing from the lava to the hole. An idea came to me, a crazy idea, but it sounded like it could work.

I got as close to the lava as I could, carefully mining away the rock under it. As soon as as decent amount of rock was gone, the lava started flowing down into the hole. It gave off enough light that I could see that the hole was actually only a few feet deep, and it angled naturally towards another tunnel. I made my way into the tunnel, dropping more torches. The tunnels went on and on. After a few hours of spelunking, I began making my way back to the cave home. After a half hour, however, I somehow managed to get completely lost.

I began to get worried. None of the tunnels I found seemed familiar, and I kept hearing spiders and skeletons nearby. I had long ago ran out of torches, and was stumbling around in complete darkness. With no light to see, I suddenly fell down a sinkhole, landing hard and spraining my ankle. Laying there in the dark, I saw a dim glow coming from a nearby opening. As I struggled to my feet, I noticed the rock below me was slick with moss.

When I regained my footing, a gust of disgusting smelling air blew past me from the opening. I turned, reaching for my bone sword that wasn't there. A clacking and shrieking echoed towards me, and an abomination came at me.

It was a skeleton RIDING a spider! At least, that's how it looked at first. To my adrenaline fueled brain, time slowed enough for me to see that the skeleton was actually PART of the spider. I clawed my way back up that hole, screaming my voice raw as I went. Arrows stuck into the walls around me, and the horrible shrieking of the spider filled my ears.

Eventually, though I have no memory of it, I made my way back to the tunnels I knew. I stumbled and crawled back to the blessed surface, reaching my home just as the sun began setting. I dropped into my home-made bed of gathered wool, battered and exhausted.

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**Well, that was scary, wasn't it? Join us next time to see what happens next!**


	6. Chapter 6: Alone in the Crowd

**OK, so, got my first batch of criticisms recently. Took them to heart. So for the rest of the story, I will put the last 2 sentences from the last chapter in the beginning(in italics) so the story flows better.**

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_Eventually, though I have no memory of it, I made my way back to the tunnels I knew. I stumbled and crawled back to the blessed surface, reaching my home just as the sun began setting. I dropped into my home-made bed of gathered wool, battered and exhausted._

When I woke up, I could hear voices. Sleepy and irritated, I yelled for them to shut-up. I laid back down when-

Wait...VOICES? PEOPLE!

I rocketed out of bed, up my stairs, and into the cold light of dawn. And there, just past the copse of tress, were actual people! Building houses! I ran over to them, yelling and waving my arms. They couldn't seem to hear me, even when I got close to them. They just kept building houses and lightposts randomly. I tried shaking them, smacking them, nothing worked. I looked them in the eyes, and still no response. They just...kept building.

I fell to my knees in despair. Oh cruel irony to find actual people, only to find out they were mindless builders, little better than zombies. Loneliness welled up in my heart. As I watched them build fantastic structures, from simple huts of soaring towers, I wept for them and for me. Clearly, my search for home would be a lonely one.

I sat on the edge of the hole leading to my cave home all day. I watched these "people" build house after house, tower after tower. They seemed possessed in their creation, never once stopping for food or rest. I marveled at their efficiency, their speed. I could also see, away from the builders, an old man in a suit staring at the frozen lake. I walked over to him, stood next to him, and also looked at the lake.

"What do you see, old man?"

He did not respond, only raised one arm. Within seconds 3 men joined him. They stood still for a moment, then started flinging blocks at a ridiculous pace, building something I hadn't seen yet. It was 5 feet high, and dozens of feet wide. Once the walls were complete, a door was fitted, and the men went inside. I followed, curious. Once inside, the 3 men built small stalls along one side, set up signs, then sealed themselves inside the stalls. The mayor (which was what I named him in my mind) dropped a chest into the middle of the floor, and then began walking around randomly, his work now apperantly complete.

I stayed in the cave for 5 days, alternating between mining and taking torches off of the buildings the "builders" made. Since they never seemed to run out of resources, I didn't think they would mind. In this way I increased my torch supply by the dozens, and got iron and a bit of gold from my mining.

About 8 days after the people showed up, I wandered into the big building with the mayor and the stalls. As I read the signs, I saw I could get armor and food. The thought of actually protecting myself from monsters had never occured to me before now. It seemed a brilliant idea, so I took a closer look at what the armor cost.

The pickings were slim, with only "1 iron bar for Chain Helmet" available. Was that like Chain Mail? That could be very useful. I turned to leave, but one sign caught my eye.

"1 Diamond for 64 TNT."

64 TNT! That was alot of explosives. My mind whirled with the possibilities. Clearing away mountains to make an easier path, blowing up monsters before they even got close. Gathering resources at a ridiculous pace. But all that would have to wait until I got a Diamond. I knew it took incredible pressure to make a diamond, which meant I would have to mine deeper then I had ever mined before.

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**OK, so the existence of people in this chapter is due to an early NPC mod I found on the Minecraft Forums. Their function was to build a variety of buildings ranging from small houses and towers, to large open walled areas where the market was set up. Once again, the mod name eludes me. Apologizes to anyone who wants the mods used in this story :(**


	7. Chapter 7: Redstone

**IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! So to celebrate, here's a new chapter! Enjoy and don't forget to comment!**

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I ran back to my cave home, grabbing every torch I could from nearby buildings. I stopped at my cave home long enough to grab my pickaxes and the rest of my torches. From there I started climbing down the tunnels, getting as deep as I could without actually mining.

I got pretty far, I think, before the decent ended. I dropped a torch and got to work, carving a downward staircase into the earth. I mined for hours, smashing enough rock to make a new mountain, and finding chunks of iron and gold ore by the dozen. I even found coal, which made my torches brighter and last alot longer. When I took a break, I looked back up my staircase.

It went up and up so far I couldn't tell where it had started. I had no idea how deep I was, but my watch told me that I had been mining all day and almost all night. As I turned to go back up my staircase, a dim red glow caught my eye. I lookked closer, and saw part of the stone was covered with red specks that glowed when struck. The air around the stone had a metallic taste to it, and when I mined it, it crumbled into a fine powder. Wondering greatly at what I had discovered, I filled my pockets and trudged back up my seemingly endless staircase, eventually reaching the top as my watch buzzed, which signaled it had been officially 24 hours since I had started mining, and what did I have to show for it?

47 Iron Ore

32 Gold Ore

over 100 Coal

Seemingly infinite stone

The Odd Red-Stone Powder

No Diamond

I shoved the Iron and Gold into my furnace, lit some coal for fuel, and sat on the edge of my bed, sifting the red powder around on top of my crafting bench. I small bit fell on my watch, and the digital screen briefly glowed much brighter. It seemed the powder had some connection to technology. This, I mused as I layed down to sleep, may serve me well someday.

The smell of burning wood woke me up. I opened my eyes, shocked to see smoke everywhere. I got out of bed coughing, falling to my knees to escape the smoke. I looked for the cause of the fire, going into panic mode when I saw the source.

My furnace was billowing fire in all directions. My crafting bench was a charred cinder, and my chest was halfway there. I snuffed out the flames on the chest with my jacket, grabbed what I could, and got the hell out of there.

I climbed out of my cave home, coughing and gagging. It was the middle of the night, so I crawled as fast as I could to the nearest building, which happened to be a 3 level tower near the lake edge. I reached the top, narrowly missing an arrow that embedded itself in the wood underneath the top floor of the tower. I collapsed as soon as I cleared the ladder, wheezing like an asmatic. My sleep that night was fitful, to say the least.

The next morning, on what I think was the 9th day since I hit the ice lake, I got up irritable and hoarse. With a face that could curdle milk, I dumped out my chest to see what I had saved from the fire.

My stone and iron tools had survived the blaze, luckily, as had my bone sword, and I only had to fix the handle of one shovel. I lost alot of wood though, with only a few dozen pieces left. My stone supply was slightly diminished, but that was more from my hasty exit than the fire. The big loss was the iron, gold, and coal I had left in the furnace. I hadn't thought to grab much when I left, so now I only had 5 Iron bars, 1 Gold bar, and no Coal.

Humbled and depressed, I looked out over the world from my new vantage point. It was a cold, clear morning, and the builders were still hard at work, but more spread out now. Building dotted the landscape in all directions. Towers, huts, lightposts, they went on forever. The opening to my cave home was still billowing smoke into the sky. Shaking my head, I went to lay down again, when something caught my eye. I stood up and looked at the lake again. From my new home, I could see the other end of the lake!

It looked a full days journey, but I could see there was no snow on the other shore. Excited for the adventure that lay before me, I grabbed my pack and climbed down the tower.

Before leaving, I ransacked every home within a mile of the Smoky Cave, which is what I named my former home. I took every torch and ladder, even chopped down a few lightposts to increase my wood supply. In some of the new houses, chests and furnaces were inside. I found sulfur, some of which I already had from previous creeper encounters, sugarcane, which really boosted my energy, and in a particularly large house, some armor made from cow hides.

I put the armor on, feeling more protected immediately. As I left, I checked the furnace in the house, and what do I find?

Glass. Big chuncks of glass. This was a major discovery. With glass, I could have windows in my future homes. Deducing that other furnaces could have more glass, I quickly ran though all the houses I had already robbed. In every furnace, glass was found. I was giddy with excitement, whooping and jumping around like an idiot.

In the end, I calmed down, made a last inspection of my possessions, and began my slipping and sliding journey across the frozen landscape.

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**SO, redstone and a fiery exit! Quite a chapter, wouldn't you agree? To address concerns about my chapter length, I think I should tell the readers that I actually have this entire story written and chopped up into chapters. I plan on adding to it a bit here and there, but most of the chapters will be about this long. But don't fear, we still have a few left to go, and maybe even more...wow, what a crappy cliffhanger .**


	8. Chapter 8: Endermen and Herobrine

**OK, so, reviews have slowed down alot, but maybe that's because no-one has any new critisisms or compliments. Either way, I'm gonna keep updating. ALso, sorry about the missed upload date. Birthday distractions lol. Ok, here we go!**

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_In the end, I calmed down, made a last inspection of my possessions, and began my slipping and sliding journey across the frozen landscape._

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Eventually, after innumerable falls and countless faceplants, I reached the shore. I was so sore I knew I would be grounded for at least a couple days. I looked for a good spot to make a temporary home, and found the oddest natural rock formation.

It was a monstrous overhang, tons of rock just hanging over empty air. Underneath was practically an entire ecosystem. There were a couple trees, a small river, and ridiculous amounts of gravel.

I broke out my shovel and had every piece of gravel out from under that overhang in less than an hour. I was working on pure adrenaline now, and I knew if I stopped for even a second I would be unconcious for hours, so I had to make a decent shelter before I collapsed.

I pushed my wall out from my small corner I had barricaded myself in, matching it to the shadow of the overhang, making the wall perfectly shaped. After hours of compacting, I estimated it could take at least 3 creeper hits and still stay up. Once that was done, I flattened all the land under the rock overhang, dug a few trenches outside the wall for good measure, then made a quick foray underground to get some coal. I got lucky and struck coal quickly, uncovering a massive vein of 16 blocks. After hauling them up, I made a crapload of torches, setting them up in strategic places to maximize light saturation with minimal resource usage.

My newest home now lit with dozens of torches and protected by a solid wall of gravel, I took stock of my situation. I was safe from every monster I had seen so far, I had enough resources to build and light a good sized castle, and I was starting to stockpile meat from pigs and cows. I had covered countless miles, honing my body into a lean, muscle ripped form.

I had all this, but I was still no closer to getting home. It seemed I would have to keep searching. Deciding I had done all I could today, I laid down in my new bed, made of sheep wool, and went to sleep.

A dull thud woke me. It wasn't the kind of thud like something falling, more like the thud like something breaking the sound barrier. I went to my wall, looking out warily. In the dense tree cover nearby, I saw an unnaturally tall figure carrying a hunk of stone. I wanted to shout a greeting, but something stilled my tongue. I looked closer, trying to make out it's face.

The figure froze, locking eyes with me. Deep, purple, evil eyes. I couldn't move, every muscle refused to cooperate. I began panicking, wanting nothing more than to look away from those eyes.

Through an extreme force of will, I wrenched my eyes away from the thing. As soon as I did, the thud came again, and the figure was gone. I could see a very faint trail of purple dust. I followed it...right to my wall. I looked, and again, the eyes, the awful eyes. I screamed and jumped back from the wall. The thud came again, over and over, and the thing was in my house! It came at me, dissapearing and reappearing with no warning, battering me with it's long arms. I flailed wildly, with no hope of survival.

Suddenly, the arms stopped. I peeked out between my bruised arms to see the figure turning towards my bed, looking at...me.

Well, almost me. Whatever it was was larger than me, in both height and muscle mass. It wore the same clothes as me, except they wern't ripped or burned.

Also, it didn't have pupils. Just blank white eyeballs.

We stared at each other, this monster and me, and time seemed to stand still. The man raised a hand, pointing at the figure. As one, they dissapeared, leaving only a scorch mark and a piece of paper behind.

I cautiously hobbled over to my bed and picked up the piece of paper. Moving to the light of a nearby torch, I read what was written.

_**"**__**You who seek a portal home...look for the tower of bones**__**."**_

What the hell did that mean? I looked for more clues, but nothing presented itself. My adrenaline waning, exhaustion overtook me and I collapsed into my bed.

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**Finally, the mysterious Herbrine makes his apperance! Will he help our hero, or is it all an elaborate trap? Find out next time!**


	9. Chapter 9: Tower of Bones

**Now, this is a very short chapter, but don't worry, the next one will be nice and long.**

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**_"You who seek a portal home...look for the tower of bones."_**

_What the hell did that mean? I looked for more clues, but nothing presented itself. My adrenaline waning, exhaustion overtook me and I collapsed into my bed._

The next day arrived in a cloak of fog. I made the usual patrol of my wall, looking for cracks or holes. Finding none, and having no plans for the day, I stayed in bed, pondering the words on the paper.

From what I could gather, this mysterious stranger wanted to help me get home. It seemed if I could locate this tower of bones, it could lead me to a way home. I was all for going, but I had no idea where to start looking. Perhaps Fate's hand turned my head, or maybe it was mere coincidence, but while I was pondering, I happened to look down at the scorch mark that the man had left.

I dropped down to the ground, almost touching the ground with my nose. There, in the middle of the mark, a small arrow was imprinted on the ground, pointing out into the nearby forest.

I rose with newfound determination and packed with amazing speed, leaving only the compacted gravel wall behind.

I traveled for so long I lost track of the days. I passed through enormous deserts, towering forests, and leagues of flatland. I felt like a nomad, wandering endlessly from shelter to shelter for their entire life. I became like a zombie, trudging for hours at a time, my body on autopilot as my mind wandered aimlessly.

After what seemed like an eternity, **(for the readers interest, it had been 2 weeks since the overhang and the gravel wall, making our characters total time in "Minecraftia" 1 and a half months, or 45 days)**, I set up my newest shelter, specifically designed to be both strong and quick to assemble, at the foot of a massive dirt mound. Setting up my normal system of torches, I sat in my bed, pondering. I had been watching the horizon for what seemed like uncountable days, but there was still no sign of the tower on the hill of bones.

The man with no pupils had continued to visit me every few nights, leaving more scorch marks and more arrows. But after all this time, I began to wonder if I would ever find this tower.

The next day dawned cold and windy. I packed up my torches and set out for what I expected would be a day filled with dissapointment. As I began walking, I noticed the ground begin to change. Instead of the normal grass and sand, the ground was now becoming hard and cracked, changing from brown to a deep red. I looked up and saw the tree's were becoming twisted and streached. Soon the towering behemoths surrounded me, blocking off any view of the land I was now in.

For several hours I walked through the forest, becoming increasingly nervous as I heard mournful wails echoing from all directions. All vegetation had fled, and no animals could be seen. The sky turned a hazy red, and the air felt think, like before a storm.

Finally, I broke free of the creepy forest, entering a clearing. And in the center of the clearing, like a jagged white bone, a tower stood.

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**We're closing in on the end here people. Only 1 chapter left. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!**


	10. Chapter 10: Going Home?

**Well, this is it folks. The end of the road. This is the final chapter of my story. All I can say is, thank you for the reviews and I hope you guys like it.**

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_Finally, I broke free of the creepy forest, entering a clearing. And in the center of the clearing, like a jagged white bone, a tower stood._

I stared at it, hardly daring to believe my eyes. I had finally found the Tower of Bones the pupil-less man had written about! All fatigue forgotten, I rushed toward it. The ground beneath me cracked and split as I ran, crumbling away behind me, leaving me no way back.

When I got close to the door, A blinding flash of lightning struck the ground in front of the tower, forcing me to close my eyes. When I reopened my eyes, I saw the eyeless man standing there. He raised one arm, pointing at me, then turned, and pointed at the front door. Another flash, and the man was gone.

Wary now, I pushed open the black door, grunting at the exertion. Whatever this door was made of, it was heavy.

Inside the tower was an enormous room. It seemed to strech for eternity in every direction, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw two dim red torches at the other end. I walked quickly, my footsteps muffled, the dark walls seeming to absorb any sound made. I kept my bone sword at the ready, as I had left all my other belongings outside, keeping only my sword and several torches.

Reaching the red torches, I saw there were 2 staircases, one leading up, one leading down. The one going down was made of the same dark purple rock, while the one going up was made of a light blue material. I stood there, wondering which I should take.

As I stood there, pondering, the man with no pupils appeared again, this time flanked by 2 of the tall black figures. Without a sound, the man pointed at the purple passageway. The two beings let out an ungodly wail, and with a flash and a thud, all 3 were gone.

After collecting my nerves, I tightened my grip on my sword and began my decent. The rock seemed to suck all light from my torches, leaving them glowing embers in my hands. Undaunted, I continued walking down the staircase. The air became hot, the rock cracked from the heat, bone chilling cries echoed through the stone. I began to wonder if this was a good idea, but I had come too far to give up now, so I solidered on.

I reached the bottom of the tunnel, and I entered an room so large I couldn't see the ceiling or walls. The stone beneath my feet changed from the dark rock I had become accustomed too, to a red brittle mixture that flaked and chipped with each step. A foul stench rose from the stone, making me gag. And standing a few hundred yards in front of me was the man with no pupils, this time surrounded by over 20 tall black figures. They stood in what seemed to be a complex pattern around a large glowing purple portal, the frame made of the same material as the tunnel. With the cold hand of fear gripping my heart, I walked towards the man, dropping my torches. My only possession now was my faithful bone sword, and I gripped it firmly in my hands.

I reached the man in front of the portal, and the black figures let out a chorus of wails before dissapearing, leaving only me and the man in the portal room. I stood mere feet from him, shaking in terror, my bone sword rattling in my hands. The man looked at me, no discerable expression on his face. With a great gust of wind, the man vanished. At the same time, the purple portal rippled wildly, as if a large rock had been dropped into it. At my feet was another note. I sat down, suddenly weary, and picked it up.

**"You who have traveled far across the land, enter this portal and go home."**

I sat in front of that portal for a long time, thinking heavily on whether or not to trust the pupil-less man. He had not led me astray, but he seemed to be in cahoots with the tall black figures. Also, my very soul seemed to shudder at the portal. It didn't feel right, like it wasn't a natural part of the universe. I didn't want to go through it, but I wanted to go home and see my family more.

Finally, I stood, mind made up. I planted my bone sword directly front and center before the portal, and gathered my strength. With one last deep breath, I walked through the portal.

Agony. Endless Agony.

My body is gone, it's pieces ripped apart, shredded, and sent to the far reaches of reality.

My soul cries out, seeking anyone who could help. But there is no-one, only the pain.

Make it stop...I can't take it...please...

A light...

I see a light...

I move towards it, reaching out for the small opening in this Hell.

I enter the light, and my body reforms. The pain vanishes, and I re-enter the world.

I lay on the ground for hours, weeping with fear and joy. Fear of what I had gone through, joy that I am finally home. I raise my head.

My body goes cold. Fresh tears form in the corners of my eyes. This is not home. The rock is still there, red and rotten. The landscape has changed. I am no longer in the room, but still I am surrounded by this disgusting rock. I struggle to my feet, my body shrieking with pain. I sense movement around me, but I can see very little, the only light coming from the portal behind me.

I have nothing, no tools, no torches, not even my bone sword.

I am even farther from home, with even less chance of returning.

I am not alone, and I am afraid.

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**Well, there we go. Originally, I wanted our hero to go home, but in case I ever decided to make a sequel, I changed the ending. Leave a review of how you enjoyed the overall story, and if you think I should make a sequel.**


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